


time goes by (and still i'm stuck on you)

by awesomeaislin



Series: Carry On Countdown 2018 [11]
Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: DEC 05 - Time, F/M, Kind of sad at the start, M/M, Time - Freeform, fluffy at the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-07 17:12:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16858021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awesomeaislin/pseuds/awesomeaislin
Summary: Penny misses Micah, but time pass and she doesn't know how to bridge the gap.(ends well)





	time goes by (and still i'm stuck on you)

**Author's Note:**

> gotta write something for time, and I've got nothing, so what do I write? A story about how I felt right before I broke up with my boyfriend, but then I just latch onto the only long distance relationship I can find, so I don't break them up, I just kind let them be for the minute.

Time passes before Penny can process it happening. She’s so involved in everything around her that sometimes she looks up from her latest project and a month has passed.

 

She spends time with Simon, she argues with Baz, she does research, she gets good grades, she works art at everything she does, and so when she looks up a year has passed. 

 

She realizes she hasn’t seen Micah in over a year. Sure they text and they facetime and she helps him with his research and vice versa, but communicating with someone and being near them are fully different things aren’t they. 

 

“Simon,” She starts even though maybe it’s the kind of thing she should probably sort out herself, but to be fair she spends about 80% of her time sorting our Simon’s life. ( _ ‘Simon, maybe you should just apologize Baz since you did   _ steal  _ his charger.’, ‘Maybe you should try baking the cookies  _ with  _ salt if you want them to turn out right.’ ‘What if you tried actually studying for you test instead of just making out with your boyfriend in your room pretending?’ _ )

 

“Pen? Do you want a scone?” She doesn’t. He forgot the sugar this time. Honestly the fact that any of them have their lives together is a miracle. 

 

“No, thank you, could you help me with something over here.” She knows he’ll try to help. He always does. He has something of a hero complex.( _ does it count as a hero complex if you used to be a hero?) _

 

Simon spreads himself out on the sofa across from her. He frowns a little bit worriedly. “What’s up?”

 

“Do you think it’s weird that I haven’t seen Micah in over a year?” 

 

“Do  _ you  _ think it’s weird if you haven’t seen Micah in over a ye-”

 

“Seriously, Simon, what do you think? If I wanted to answer my own questions, I would.” It’s not fair to be harsh on him. He’s trying his best, but she’s tense, and she needs help, so she might as well speed this along. 

 

“Well, does it upset you?” He asks. 

 

“Obviously,” She rolls her eyes. Honestly, she needs Baz here to tell Simon to shut up and give her some honest advice. Maybe she’ll phone him next. Though he’ll probably appear within the next ten minutes, he spends so much time here that she should start making him pay rent. 

 

“Then you should do something about it,” Simon smiles. Everything about him is reassuring. Maybe this is why she turns to Simon not Baz.

“Like what,” She asks. She’s smart. She’s so so smart. But sometimes people need to be led to the water. 

 

“Like talk to Micah and book a flight, or tell him to book a flight,” Simon urges. “Talk to him.”

 

So she goes into her room, and she texts Micah and she tells him she misses him, and he says he wants to see her, but then nothing happens. She doesn’t book a flight, and she doesn’t book one either. 

 

She wonders if this is it. She thought she’d be in this for the long run. She wanted to be in this for the long run. She wants to be this for the long run. But how can she be in this if he’s an ocean away, and neither of them are moving. 

 

So she waits, and time keeps passing. She discovers a new spell. Has dinner with her parents. They dress up for Halloween (Simon picks Baz’s costume and nearly pees himself laughing at him). She skypes Micah over Thanksgiving and they don’t talk about booking a visit, but they do talk about what they’ll name their kids. She throws herself into homework. She passes all her final exams. And suddenly it’s Christmas. 

 

She spends the morning with Baz and Simon and Simon is practically buzzing with excitement. She pins it down to the fact he’s probably never had the happiest Christmas and he’s expecting something great this year. ( _ That’s fair. She knows what Baz got him. He’s going to flip. _ )

 

Baz makes all of them cups of tea, and Simon opens his stocking. He frowns when he sees that its filled with coal. 

 

“I thought I’d been good,” He pouts jokingly in Baz’s general direction. 

 

“It’s made of candy,” Baz rolls his eyes, but Simon starts munching on it anyway. It doesn’t taste any good. Of course it doesn’t. It’s supposed to be coal. He checks his phone, and then smiles at Simon, “I have to go pick a gift for you, darling, I’ll be back in about an hour.”

 

“On Christmas,” Simon frowns. Penny tries not to scoff at how ridiculous they’re being. As if Baz really needed to get Simon  _ another  _ gift. She’s pretty sure the new baking set and electric mixer are good enough to make Simon cry his eyes out. Maybe Baz just needs an ego boost. 

 

Baz kisses Simon and leaves. 

 

Simon makes her pancakes, and this time the only thing he forgets is the eggs, but they’re still inedible. So he has to make them again. It takes ages. Baz must be nearly home by the time he stops belting christmas songs ( _ badly _ ). 

 

“So what do you want for Christmas, Penny,” He smiles like he knows something she doesn’t. As much time as has passed, Simon is still the most readable person she knows. 

 

“You mean besides peace on earth and goodwill to men,” She smirks.   
  
He laughs. He’s so easy to make laugh. He’s so easy. 

 

“Baz is taking a while isn’t he,” She says. 

 

“Yeah, maybe he got lost,” Simon shrugs. There’s a knock at the door. “Or not I guess.”

 

She doesn’t know why Baz bothers knocking. He has a key. 

 

He opens the door before either of them can stand up to help, “Bunce,” He calls. “Could you come help me bring this in?”

 

“Can’t Simon?”

 

“That would ruin the surprise,” Baz rolls his eyes at me. Honestly one of these days I’m going to kick him out. He deserves it. The asshole. 

 

She stands up and goes to help anyway when she sees...

 

Micah. 

 

She sees Micah. 

 

For the first time in over a year. 

 

She doesn’t have time to think before he’s throwing his arms around her, and she’s holding to him as tight as she can. 

 

“You’re here,” is all she can say. 

 

“I’m here,” is all he can seem to say back. 

 

It’s not forever. He won’t stay forever. She knows he won’t. But right now she can’t bring herself to care. 

 


End file.
